Former Russian anti-doping chief Kamayev dead

The former executive director of Russia’s anti-doping agency (RUSADA) Nikita Kamayev has died two months after resigning his post, the Tass news agency reported on Sunday.

The report, citing the former general director of the scandal-hit agency Ramil Khabriev, said Kamayev’s death had “presumably” been caused by a heart attack.

“It looks like an extensive infraction,” it quoted Khabriev as saying. “He complained of heart ache after a skiing session. He has never complained about heart problems, at least to me. Maybe his wife knew about such problems.”

Russia was suspended from international athletics last November after a special commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency exposed widespread state-sponsored cheating and corruption.

Kamayev and Khabriev stood down from their positions along with the rest of the senior RUSADA management in mid-December as Russia began working on lifting the ban in time for its athletes to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.